Behind Blue Eyes
by maliks-mistress
Summary: Rated PG13 to be safe. Nobody seems to know that Jou is in real trouble except for his greatest enemy.SetoJou. Yaoi PLEASE R&R.
1. Puppy in Distress

Hiya guys! This is my first ever fan fic. It's a total Seto/Jou because I totally love them together, which leads me to my next little point...  
  
WARNING!: This is yaoi or shounen-ai or a same-sex relationship story or whatever you want to call it. If you don't like it, then don't read it, it's really as simple as that, that's what they made the back button for.  
  
If you're still with me, then please also consider that this is my first ever fan fic, so it's probably not all that great. I'm not a terrific writer so please go easy on me. I'm to young to get flamed! :'( But umm...yea...I do like the story line and yea...I guess that's it, I suppose I'm out of things to say. Obiekay- if you're still with me even through all that crap; On with the Fic~  
  
O! Sorry! One more side note. I used their Japanese names because I think they are cooler. Anzu Mazaki is Tea Gardner, Katsuya Jounounchi is Joey Wheeler, Hiroto Honda is Tristan Taylor, And Seto Kaiba is..well...Seto Kaiba  
  
~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ ~/~/~/~/~/~/~/ Chapter one: Puppy in Distress  
  
"I thought I told you to clean up this mess!" Jounounchi dad screeched through the early morning's silence. Jou knew what was coming. It happened almost every morning before he went to school. Jou heard his father's footsteps coming up the stair, his heart about to burst through his chest with each step. He closed his eyes and he prayed that this was a dream. His father slammed open his door and slapped him across the face.  
  
Too bad it wasn't a dream. Jou started getting pounded with blows in the chest, stomach, and back. There was no way to stop it, it would be less painful if he just sat there and took it. Luckily, his dad got bored with him and stopped fairly quickly.  
  
"Don't do that again, or it will be worse the next time" he threatened and stalked out of the room. Jou was nothing more than a crippled heap on the floor. He slowly raised his head to look at the clock; it read 6:30. Only a half an hour to get ready for and get to school...  
  
"Jou! Jou! Over here!" a bubbly violet eyed boy yelled. Jou, still extremely sore from this morning, put on his fake, overly-happy attitude and jogged over to them. So far, nobody knew about his father. Well, Honda, Jou's best friend, probably suspected but he never said anything about it.  
  
Jou smiled, "Hey! What's up you guys?" and from that little question, everybody started talking. It was a three-day weekend and everybody had his or her own plans for the holiday. Sadly, none of them included Jou. Everybody seemed to be going out of town or making plans with old, long- forgotten buddies. Jou mentally cringed, that meant he was going to have to stay at home all weekend; with his dad; all alone; with his dad. Jou seriously doubted he would be alive to return to school on Tuesday. The bell rang breaking his thoughts.  
  
"We better hurry to class, you know how our teachers hate it when we're late" Anzu warned. Everybody gulped and ran off full speed to their class. Jou didn't have his first class with any of his friends, although he did have it with a certain CEO who annoyed the hell out of him. , a certain Seto Kaiba. Jou grimaced at the thought of having to be insulted by such a jackass when was turning to be such a horrible day anyway. "Speak of the devil..." Jou mumbled under his breath. For right at the very moment, Kaiba started down the hall to the class. Unluckily for Jou, he was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he wasn't paying much attention to his motor skills and he ran smack into none other than the brunette himself. Bad mistake, first of all, it was Kaiba that he ran into, but Kaiba also unknowingly, hit one of his bruised ribs...although now he was certain it was probably cracked.  
  
Kaiba looked over his shoulder and smirked "Watch where you're going mutt" and started to walk away, when he glanced back. Jou was very pale and obviously in a ton of pain. Well Kaiba knew he was much stronger and bigger than Jou, but he had barely touched him. Also, Jou wasn't pouring out his usual insults. This was not like the dog he knew at all. Kaiba asked coldly "Something the matter pup?" although a hint of concern flashed in his eyes.  
  
Jou was very winded and was on the verge of collapsing but Kaiba's question took him by surprise. He almost wanted to tell him, just so that he could see the look on Kaiba's face, just to see how he'd react, Jou then realized that it was Kaiba and he probably wouldn't care. Realizing that Kaiba was actually waiting for an answer. Not wanting him to pry or get suspicious he managed a weak "F off" and scurried off to class.  
  
Kaiba would never have admitted it to anyone, not even to himself, but he was actually worried about the dog. He had never seen that mutt look so sad, confused, hurt or lost in thought before. Actually, now that he had thought about it...maybe he had. During class, the pup's eyes normally did glaze over. He always thought he was just bored with the lesson, but he always did look quite sad. He walked into the same door that Jou had bolted into only moments before. Sure enough, there was the pup, sitting at his desk trying to rapidly BS his way through last night's homework.  
  
Why did he care so much about his rival? Kaiba sighed and took his seat. He didn't know what was with his sudden interest of trying to figure out what was wrong with his enemy but he was interested all the same. A small voice in the back of his head said "Maybe it's because he reminds you of yourself. Sure, you just hid yourself from the world behind a cold attitude instead of slapping an overly happy one on, but the over all underlying problems seem to be the same." Kaiba shook the idea from his head, he mentally argued in his head "The mutt might be stupid, but he's not that stupid. He has friends, he would tell them something was up if he was really having a problem" and with that, he pushed the thought from his mind. The bell to start class rang, snapping him out of his thoughts. Kaiba rolled his eyes as his teacher strolled in and started the lesson. He learned about this stuff when he was 5, so he pulled out his laptop and continued to get some work done for Kaiba Corp...  
  
Jou glanced at the clock. Only 5 more minutes of class. Now most people would be excited for that when a three-day weekend was about to commence, but since Jou didn't have anywhere else to go but his house, and that was the last place where he wanted to be. The bell rang. Jou slowly grabbed his things and started heading towards the door. All of his friends had left already; in fact, everybody else had left already except for Kaiba. As much as Jou hated Kaiba, but he would rather be in a room with him than at home with his dad.  
  
Kaiba watched him and smirked. "I thought you mutt, of all people would be the first one out of here."  
  
Jou sighed. He should have known better than being able to get out of there without being insulted at least once but he really couldn't deal with this right now. He was frustrated, scared and lonely and did not want to have to be insulted right before his weekend of hell. Jou then did something he had never done before to Kaiba; he simply walked away. No comebacks, no rash fists of fury, not even a frown. He just tried to walk out of the room, as if he hadn't even heard the insulting remark.  
  
He did not get far, however, because a hand on his shoulder whirled him around. Jou winced at the sudden, forceful movement. One lonely tear escaped his left eye.  
  
Kaiba was very taken aback by this. Jou wouldn't even meet him with his eyes. Kaiba let go of mutt's shoulder. Jou turned and quickly ran out of there leaving a very confused Kaiba standing in the middle of an empty classroom. ______________________________________________________________________  
  
Well...like it? Hate it? Tell me with the little review button right down there in the corner. I won't update until I have at least a couple reviews. I don't want to be writing this story if nobody likes it. Please tell me what you think! Thanks sooooo much for even taking the time to read my story! Until next time, I bid you good-day. 


	2. Kaiba to the Rescue

Umm…..hi guys. I'm sorry! Contrary to popular belief, I didn't fall of the face of the earth. I know it's been 2 or 3 months since I updated, but it's close to taking the AP US history test and my job only gives me 2 days off per week! Sorry Sorry Sorry Sorry!

But for those who reviewed, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You guys are way to nice to me I promise.

And now for my thank you's:

Saelbu-Thank you so much for reviewing! Here's my update

MarikIshtarRH01970-Things will get better for Jou in a little bit, don't worry.

Santurion-Thanks for giving me the confidence to keep writing! Here's the next chapter

SilverWing147-It's sexy eh? LoL. Thanks! That puts faith back in my writing.

miss B 169 –That is so sweet! I'm glad you like it. Thank you!

Visser One- I can't even tell you how good that e-mail made me feel. You inspired me to put up this chapter. Thank you soooooooo much!!!!

Ok…Now that I've got those done, I forgot to have the Disclaimer last chapter, maybe I should do that now

Disclaimer-I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, and I don't own the Title Behind Blue Eyes. shifty eyes I heard that song on the radio…and it just seemed so perfect!

Other me: You're rambling again, you did this before the first chapter too

blinks So sorry, umm…same warnings still apply and I suppose that's it…and I use ellipses way to much but that's besides the point. On with the Chapter!

Chapter 2: Kaiba to the Rescue

_He did not get far, however, because a hand on his shoulder whirled him around. Jou winced at the sudden, forceful movement. One lonely tear escaped his left eye. _

_Kaiba was very taken aback by this. Jou wouldn't even meet him with his eyes. Kaiba let go of mutt's shoulder. Jou turned and quickly ran out of there leaving a very confused Kaiba standing in the middle of an empty classroom._

Jou was a mental case. This was definitely the worst day he had ever had in his life. He was on his way to his hellhole he called his home, Kaiba of all people had seen him at his weakest and to top it all off, it was beginning to rain.

Jou was still running. He knew he should go home. The longer he waited to go there, the worse it would be, but he just couldn't bring himself to go there quite yet. He dropped by the local arcade. He figured that he would just play one quick game to calm his nerves, then go strait home. He picked a game off in the corner, one that nobody was using. A blue hedgehog appeared and he started maneuvering it around the screen. It was a fun game and it did help him calm down. But fairly soon, he died and Jou was running extremely late. His dad was going to be furious.

It was now pouring outside. Jou ran as fast as possible to his house, hoping beyond all hope that his dad was passed out on the couch by now. He reached for the doorknob, his hand shaking. He opened the door as quietly as he could and stepped inside. He started going to his room when he heard a gruff voice from the couch.

"Where the hell have you been boy?" his dad sneered as he started advancing towards Jou…

By this time, Kaiba had made his way out of the classroom and was currently sitting at the dinner table with his brother. He loved having dinner with Mokuba. It was one of the only times he could let his defenses down. Mokuba was one of the few, if not only, person he could trust. Seto closed his eyes and just listened to Mokuba chatter about school, friends and pretty much anything else that came to mind. Seto was more than happy to let his little brother talk, since he wasn't much of a conversationalist himself.

After dinner was over, Mokuba went to go play his video games. Kaiba had originally set this time to finish his homework, but since it had been a holiday, the teachers had been nice and not given any and there was nothing that couldn't be saved until tomorrow with work. Since it had been such a tiring day, he thought he would just go to bed. So he said his good nights, told Mokuba not to stay up to late, and his servants that he wasn't to be disturbed.

Seto headed up his long flight of stairs up to his room. For such a big house, his room was actually quite small. Granted, it was probably bigger than most people's living and family rooms combined, but compared to his other bedrooms, it was one of the smallest. It was also fairly empty. There was a desk in the far-left corner of his room. On it sat a computer, his deck and a picture, a picture of him and Mokuba before they were sent to the orphanage. It was one of the few pictures he had of himself and his brother. He had 2 different doors on the left wall, one leading to the bathroom and one leading to his large walk in closet, and on the left hand corner closest to the door, he had a big screen TV. There was a giant window along the back wall and a small stereo system in far right hand corner. Along the right side, there was his king size bed surrounded by an oak headboard with little dressers/nightstands on either side. His room was painted white and it was covered with light blue carpeting.

Seto stripped down to his boxers and climbed in between his black silk sheets. He then turned to his left, set his alarm and grabbed the remote. He clicked on the TV to MSNBC. As he watched the stocks he tried to lull himself to sleep. He was so used to late late nights and hardly any sleep that he had developed an insomnia problem.

Nevertheless, his tired body and the droning of the TV took over and he fell into a deep slumber. That's when the dreams began…

"_Seto! You have disappointed me yet again!"_

"_I'm sorry sir"_

_Gozoboro advanced towards his stepson._

"_No, please, no!"…_

Smack Another punch had just been landed in Jou's face. He already lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. Blood was pouring from his nose and mouth along with large bruises already starting to form on his arms and chest.

"Dad…please…stop" Jou gasped.

"Had enough huh? You weakling, you're nothing but a dirty whore, that's all you'll ever be, just like your mother."

"My mother was 100 times the person you'll ever be!" Jou retaliated.

As his father loomed over him, he instantly regretted his decision. "How can you defend her? How can you defend that bitch, the one that left you and me? Huh?"

Jou couldn't look him in the eye. He just stared at the ground. Why did his mother leave him here with his poor excuse of a father?

An eerie grin spread across the face of his dad. "Speechless, huh?" The grin quickly faded, "Get out and don't you come back until school, you hear me?" His dad screamed, shoved him out in the hall and slammed the door leaving a broken Jou out in the cold. His clothes were bloody and torn, his body bruised beyond belief, and Jou could hardly stand up because the pain was so great from his father's actions. He had nowhere to go, nowhere to stay. He couldn't turn to anybody; he was all alone, in front of his apartment, not knowing what to do. He checked his pockets and found $5. If he spent his money right, he could probably afford enough food for the weekend. He shakily stood up, testing his strength. Excruciating pain radiated through his body, but he forced himself to walk out of the run-down, sleazy apartment complex…

Seto woke up with a start. His nightmare had woken him up. He used to have nightmares all the time, but they had been getting better, why had those memories come back now? It had really shaken him up. He glanced over at the clock. It read 3 am. He didn't have to wake up for another two hours. Try as he might, he could not go back to sleep. He figured he needed to clear his head, and decided that he would go for a walk. So he silently got dressed, wrote a quick note for Mokuba, just in case, and slipped into the early morning.

Seto was vaguely aware of where he was going; he mostly let his feet take care that. He was off trying to sort out his thoughts. He was trying to figure out why he had nightmares, and why he was here and all those questions that pop into people's heads when they think long enough. One peculiar thought crossed his mind. Why had Jou acted so strangely? Although this thought, along with all his others, were pushed out of his head when he saw some movement in an alleyway.

Normally, he would have passed it without a second glance, but those honey eyes were too familiar. And how could he pass up such a perfect chance to anger his mutt.

"Couldn't pay the rent pup?" Kaiba snickered evilly.

Jou looked like a deer caught in headlights. It wasn't until then that Kaiba got a good look at him. He saw the smeared blood all over his face; he saw the swollen nose and black eye, and he saw the bruises all over his arms.

"Not now Kaiba, just, not now" Jou practically pleaded.

"What happened?" Seto asked quietly.

"Why do you care?" Jou asked, exasperated.

"Normally I don't," he replied coldly, "but" he added, "if what I think happened actually happened, well, even I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

Jou looked away, ashamed and muttered "You have no idea what happened Kaiba."

"Why aren't you at the hospital, or at least with one of your pathetic friends?"

Angry, Jou yelled, "I can't go there. They aren't stupid, they'd figure out what was going on! Honda already suspects something and I will not go to a foster home! You here me Kaiba? You squeal on me and I swear to God, I will make your life a living hell! I will NOT go to a foster home."

"I doubt you could keep such a petty threat to a man of my status."

It was then that Jou realized that he had pretty much confirmed Kaiba's suspicions. Tears brimmed at the edge of his eyes, threatening to spill over.

Seto pulled out his wallet and took about three hundred dollars out of it and threw it on the ground in front of Jou. He then sneered, "We can't have you being an eyesore to society, go rent a room, maybe I can write this off my taxes as a charity case." At this, Kaiba promptly turned on his heel and briskly started walking home. 'Well that certainly ruined my day.' He thought to himself as he walked into his mansion…

Jou looked at the money on the ground. Now normally, he would have yelled at Kaiba, saying he didn't need his money and would refuse to take it, but at the moment he was out of options. He reluctantly picked up the scattered bills and headed off into the direction of the nearest motel…

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Well, what do you think? I know it's kind of going agonizingly slow (or maybe it's just me), but I really want to keep them in character. Review Pwease! It really does motivate me, and I promise I'll try to update sooner than I did last time.

note, this is a revised chapter, and I don't know if it's as good as the original, but I think it kinda fits the story better, as I know a few people agree


	3. Uncertain Feelings

I have no excuse for taking this long to update. O sure, I could go on about my job working me a lot and my friends calling me every other spare moment, but I mean, It's been like, what, 4 or 5 months? (try at least 6) Ack! I'm sorry. I love you all, and I want to apologize profusely, but I doubt you want to hear, or rather read me ramble

I want to thank:

SilverWing147;MarikIshtarRH01970; Kumori Sakusha formerly Saelbu; qtpi8601; Lead Tears; Misura; MarinK; CrimsonSchai; murai-sakura; and as always Visser One.

You guys are my heroes. And I'm really sorry I haven't updated sooner. Good news actually, I revised chapter 2. I took out this one part, because it kinda didn't fit in the story I think. It probably isn't as good, but whatever, you can go back and read it if you want. Umm… and that's probably all I have to say. Just that I love you all, and now for the disclaimer and story:

Disclaimer- I own nothing! Don't sue, because then you will inherit my nothing, and then we'll both have nothing.

Enjoy!

Jou looked at the money on the ground. Now normally, he would have yelled at Kaiba, saying he didn't need his money and would refuse to take it, but at the moment he was out of options. He reluctantly picked up the scattered bills and headed off into the direction of the nearest motel…

It was still fairly early by the time he got home. "Stupid mutt" he muttered angrily. It was to late to go back to bed, for he was wide awake after that incident, but he didn't want to go into work just yet. Sighing, he put on a pot of coffee and went to his computer to finish up some paperwork he didn't finish yesterday. The mansion was again silent except for the fingers gliding on the keyboard making a soft click….

Click Click Click

Click Click

Click

Click

The soft ticking of the clock in the motel room was the only sound that could be heard besides the uncontrollable sobbing escaping from Jou. It felt so good to cry. He hadn't been able to in such a long time. With either his friends around or his dad constantly there, or Kaiba was watching. What was with Kaiba anyway? Why couldn't he mind his own business? Jou yawned. "Best not to think about it now…or really anything for that matter." His sobs slowed, and his eyes started to droop. He curled up on the bed, falling asleep, looking very much like the puppy Seto claimed him to be…

"Wake up!" Kaiba snapped at an employee. The poor man got up, bright red and ran to go look busy. Kaiba rolled his yes. "Incompetent fool" Kaiba muttered under his breath. Morons. That's what he had to work with. He rubbed his forehead as he felt a massive headache coming on. He went back to his office and sat in his chair. As he got back to writing his program, he let his mind wander.

_Ignorant dog. Why did he have to be so stupid? He didn't even have the common sense to run to one of his friends!_ _But what do I care? He's probably off in some hotel, gorging. The stupid mutt probably couldn't manage money if his life depended on it._

At that Kaiba let out a smirk. How ironic he thought, his life kind of does depend on it.

His headache was climaxing to migraine. He finished what he wanted so he shut off the computer. He just filed a few papers for the day and headed home. It felt good to go home early for once… that is if you could consider 10 p.m. early.

At the moment, all he wanted to do was get home and relax in a nice warm shower…

Washing his hair felt so good. When was the last time he had hot water and was able to take his time? He couldn't remember. The good feeling quickly went away. He didn't deserve this. He deserved to be back at home, being beaten or on the street, but not here. He spotted the razor. He picked it up and looked at it. It had an inviting glint.

Slowly he brought it down to his arm. Breathing heavily, he pressed down on his skin but before he cut, he seemed to snap out of a daze and dropped it. Bringing his hands up to his face, he started to shake his head. Letting the hot water run over his body for a moment longer, he reached a shaky hand to turn off the shower.

He hopped out of the shower and toweled himself dry, pulled on the only clothes he had with him and climbed back into bed. Sure he hadn't done anything today but he just couldn't pull himself out of the room. One was the fear he might run into Kaiba. That was one meeting he was not looking forward to. Plus he just couldn't get himself to move. His stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything that day. He closed his eyes and figured he'd deal with money, food and clothes tomorrow. For now, he just wanted to sleep.

Kaiba woke up around 6 in the morning. He didn't have to be to work until 9 but he hadn't slept past 6:30 in who knows how many years. He went downstairs and started his morning ritual by putting on a pot of coffee. He then took out the morning paper and turned to the business section. He read the whole business section from front to back. Just as he was finishing the paper, Mokuba came downstairs and poured himself a bowl of cereal. Seto glanced up from his paper and uttered a solemn good morning. Mokuba flashed his overly happy smile stated his greeting before taking a seat next to Seto and turning on the television so that the Saturday morning cartoon marathons could begin. Seto looked at Mokuba thinking that he reminded him of Jou when his thoughts were interrupted by bursts of laughter…

Jou was rolling on the floor laughing. "These cartoons kill me!" he thought out-loud. It was 8:30. He flipped off the tv and got dressed. He looked down at his clothes. They were ripped, torn and splattered with blood. He decided that clothes came first. He counted what money he had. Jou still had around $120 left. He found a cheap hotel that was around $60 a night (sorry if that's unrealistic, I've never had to pay for a motel) and rented it for 3 nights. He figured he could go to a hand-me-down shop and get a shirt and some jeans for $35 and then have $85 for food for 2 days. Jou made sure he counted his money right. Never had he had so much money. For once he could actually go get a full meal and maybe have some leftover quarters for the arcade and have some left over so that he could buy lunch next week. He was getting quite optimistic until he remembered where the money came from. He thought about returning it to Kaiba. It's not that he thought that Kaiba would miss it, but he couldn't accept charity from an enemy…could he? He sighed. He knew he couldn't even be in the same room with Kaiba until he paid back the debt. His mood plummeted. With this thought, he wandered out of his room and onto the street wondering how he was ever going to pay back the debt. Not really paying attention to where he was going.

"Excuse me" Seto heard a voice say. Why did he choose to walk to work? He forgot how many incompetant fools rushed around the street at this hour. Honestly, you think they could even half-heartedly pay attention to the street and avoid him. He looked at the source of the voice. He immediately regretted his decision, for the source of the voice had been none other than a wide eyed, open-mouthed Jou.

_My god! You have got to be kidding me! I've seen him more in the past couple days than I have seen him this entire year at school! Why did I choose this morning of all mornings to walk to work? This is just too ironic, _Seto thought to himself.

Neither knew quite what to do, which was a complete first for both. The always calm, collected Seto was fidgeting and nervous, and Mr. Always have something to say, Jou, was speechless.

"Err…Uhm…Sorry…" Jou apologized, what sounded that it had a deeper meaning than just bumping into him. Kaiba, tried to think of a witty insult, but his mind was coming up blank. Instead he just grunted and started walking off, he didn't get far before he heard Jou's meek voice announce, " I'm going to pay you back Kaiba, I won't be your charity case."

Seto smirked. "You do what you want dog. I don't expect a weakling like you could even earn that much. It's kind of a pity that you intend to pay it off. I was hoping I could take it off my taxes." And with that remark, he left Jou, who was now red faced and had a death glare in his eyes, standing on the corner.

Kaiba didn't know what to do about his little mutt. He understood the situation that Jou was in but he did not know why Jou was acting the way he was. When Seto was in that predicament, he took matters into his own hands but he seriously doubted that Jou was strong enough to do the same. He sighed. _You don't care, _Seto told himself, _You only care about your brother, your company and yourself…Quite possibly in that order._ He added as an afterthought. He brought his hand up to his head. Seto groaned, it was too early to start getting a headache. He set his briefcase on his desk and got to work. Saturdays were his busiest days and with the morons he was working with asking him questions every 5 seconds…

"Can I help you?" the annoyed cashier said impatiently.

"Yea, a number 2 super sized."

"Anything else for you today?"

"That's it"

"$4.85"

Jou handed over the money and received his food. He picked a booth in the back and started eating slowly; well, eating slowly for him anyway; trying to figure out what he should do about Kaiba. He still hadn't figured out how he was gonna pay him back or how in the world he was supposed to go to school with the stuck up snob. Then his mind started wandering to Tuesday, which is when he would go back home. He kept hoping that maybe his dad just wanted to sober up without any distractions and that things would be all hunky-dory when he got home. While it was a nice thought, wishful thinking got him nowhere so his mind switched to more pressing matters as he took the last bite of his Quarter Pounder. What was he going to do now?

Well, It took me forever to do it, but I did it. I wish I could promise to do it faster, but I realized, when I make promises, I tend to get flustered and not keep them. I will say though, reviews motivate me. In fact, I got a review today and that's why this is posted right now, otherwise it would be quite another while. wink wink Thanks for reading my story! I love you guys.


	4. 2 Mutts and a Brother

Well, Ok I figured that since it's been probably about a year, that it's time for an update. I've actually made it off to college and I'm doing this instead of studying. I actually don't have a whole lot to do here so I'm hoping that I'll stop neglecting this, but you know, I think I've made similar predictions before…and you can see how that went. I've been out of practice of writing for a while and this is the hard part to try and keep them in character so we'll see how this goes.

I'd really like to thank everybody who reviewed. You are the BEST. I'm dead serious. You guys are the reason I actually came back to this site. Smooches.

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Chapter 4 2 mutts and a brother

_Jou handed over the money and received his food. He picked a booth in the back and started eating slowly; well, eating slowly for him anyway; trying to figure out what he should do about Kaiba. He still hadn't figured out how he was gonna pay him back or how in the world he was supposed to go to school with the stuck up snob. Then his mind started wandering to Tuesday, which is when he would go back home. He kept hoping that maybe his dad just wanted to sober up without any distractions and that things would be all hunky-dory when he got home. While it was a nice thought, wishful thinking got him nowhere so his mind switched to more pressing matters as he took the last bite of his Quarter Pounder. What was he going to do now?..._

Kaiba was typing ferociously at his computer. It was supposedly his lunch break, but of course, when you're a CEO of a multi-million dollar company, you don't get lunch breaks. He was typing a prototype for a new virtual reality game. It was still in the developing stages; in fact, all Kaiba really had was an idea; but it seemed promising. Suddenly, he heard his loudspeaker on his phone, located at the corner of his desk, crackle. His secretary's voice flooded his office. "I'm sorry to bother you Mr. Kaiba but you have a visitor." Confusion flickered behind Kaiba's eyes for a moment. Who would be calling on him during this time? He pushed a button and responded back, "Well, who is it?" in a rather annoyed tone. "Well, it looks like your brother and a mutt." Kaiba shook his head. He was sure that he couldn't have heard right. For one, his brother never came to visit him at the office because Mokuba knew he was too busy and did she say mutt? Something was not right with this situation. Again he pushed the button and cautiously said, "Go ahead and send them in…"

A little bell jingled to signify that Jou had entered the store. He wasn't really shopping for anything but he wasn't sure what else to do with his time. He had chosen to enter a small little gift shop. He was trying to think of ways he could pay back Kaiba, but he was rapidly running out of ideas. He thought about getting a job, but he knew that wouldn't work very well because his dad would not let him work and he knew that nobody would hire him in his current condition with his nose swollen and black eyes. He couldn't borrow it from a friend because then they would start to question. He thought about gambling it on something, but he couldn't risk losing what precious little he already had. He wondered if he could work it off by doing things for Seto, but he wasn't sure that was going to fly either. He couldn't think of any other options and a deep sense of hopelessness flooded him. He stuck his hands in his pockets, and with his head down, he shuffled out of the store and wandered over to a park bench.

Sighing, he sat there and watched all the little kids play, without a care in the world. Faintly smiling, Jou remembered when he was like that. His dad didn't always use to be a tyrannical monster. His smile faded. It wasn't until his mom left and took his sister with her. Jou often wondered why he was left behind. He noticed a man throwing a frisbee for his dog. It soared through the air in Jou's direction. Landing about a foot in front of him, the dog trotted over. Jou had always loved animals, so as the dog approached he smiled a little more and proceeded to talk to the dog. "Hey fella', What's your name?"

"Bark"

"No." Seto said calmly. He was looking at the dog sitting in his office with a cold, steady stare. The puppy stared back up at him with his honey colored eyes, his tail slowly wagging. It was eerie how familiar those eyes looked. Mokuba again pleaded, "But Seto! They were going to kill him! I couldn't let them do that! Look how he needs me! I promise you won't even know that it's there. I'll take care of him! You always said I needed more responsibility, what better way to do it than with a dog?" Seto said again just as calmly, "No. Mokuba, we are not dog people, we are not cat people, we aren't even hamster people." Mokuba still persisted, "But Seto, I'm lonely, you're never around and I'm stuck all alone in that big house…all by myself in a huge mansion." He made sure that the last point was crystal clear.

Seto frowned. Mokuba had taken out his trump card. Kaiba sighed in defeat. "All right, but when I get home, I'm writing up a list of rules for this…I suppose you have a name for it?" Mokuba smiled, "Yup, I'm going to name it Patch." Seto's eyebrow raised a fraction as his little brother went on further to describe why, "Because he had a white patch over his right eye." That name also sounded too familiar for his liking, but Seto said nothing. Finally shooing the dog and his brother out his office by telling them to head on home and promising that he would be there in a couple of hours, he sat down at his desk, quickly finishing typing up the blueprints for his new invention. He then filled out and signed all contracts and paperwork, and true to his word, was out of the building around 2 hours after Mokuba and the pup had left.

Entering his room back at the motel, Jou was feeling sorry for himself. He wasn't sure what he should or could do. Flopping on his bed, he stared up at the ceiling, trying to detect a pattern. Giving up, he lay on his side. Looking at the time, he realized it was approaching 7. Jou figured he'd go outside looking for dinner.

Exiting the house, Seto and Mokuba climbed into their limo. Since Seto was actually home for dinner, they decided to go out. Seto quirked his eyebrow, looking straight at Mokuba, surprised that he hadn't said where he wanted to go yet. Mokuba had a sheepish grin on his face. "Please Seto?" The older Kaiba instantly knew where Mokuba wanted to go, and opened to his mouth to protest, then thought better of it and leaned forward to tell the driver, "Olive Garden, make it snappy." Mokuba gave a shout of glee. "This is the best day ever."

Jou wasn't sure where to go, but the Olive Garden was right there. (s/n: I have to get this plot moving a little bit, sorry I know it's cliché but it's the best I could come up with) Scuffling over there, he crossed the street without looking. He never looked, because although he never thought about intentionally killing himself, he thought if he accidentally stepped in front of a moving car…well his troubles would be over. He almost got his wish, he heard a screeching of tires and saw a black car coming towards him.

Opening his eyes, Seto eyes flashed with blue fire. Enraged, he yelled at the driver, "What the hell happened?" The limosine driver look petrified, managing to stammer "I'm incredibly sorry sir, but he just walked out in front of me, like he had a death wish." Kaiba leapt out of his car and to his surprise, although he wasn't sure he was surprised anymore, Jou standing within an inch of his car, a blank look on his face. Seto wasn't sure whether to be annoyed or somewhat worried. He wasn't sure if Jou had stepped in front of the car on purpose, because he didn't look scared. Confused, but no flick of terror was etched in his features, in fact he almost looked disappointed. Seto had a bad feeling that if he didn't intervene further, that Jou might do more stupid things.

Jou woke up from his stupor. Thinking things were all over, he was surprised to see himself still standing in front of the car. Letting out his breath, he looked around and saw people staring at him as if he was a lunatic. As his eyes slowly made it's way around, he saw Kaiba. His eyes widening, he looked at the car in front of him, and he realized that it wasn't a car, but a limo. A smile crossed Jou's face, almost laughing at the irony. He wasn't really conscious of what was happening, he didn't notice Kaiba come towards him, he didn't feel it when Kaiba grabbed his arm and dragged him to his limo, he didn't hear when Mokuba questioned what happened. Jou just sat there with a stupid smile on his face.

Kaiba was sure that the mutt had lost it. He had no choice, he couldn't allow him to go on by himself, he would pose a danger to himself and society. Sighing, Seto dragged him into the limo. Mokuba spoke as soon as Seto entered the backseat, "What happened, isn't that the guy you don't like? What about dinner?" Kaiba calmly explained, "We are the Kaiba's, Olive Garden will deliver for us. As for him," Kaiba nodded to Jou, who was still smiling and staring off into space, "well, we're getting 2 mutts into our house for tonight anyway."

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Well, I know it's not long…and I'm really not sure that I like it all that much. I'm pretty sure they both got a little bit out of character. There might be some revising to this chapter if I get inspired by a better idea. At least now I know where this story is really going. Please review. Please, It doesn't hurt I promise. I love criticism and praise for my work. It means someone took the time to read it. Pwease Pwease Pwease! You'll be my favorite if you review. Ok, hope I made my point, Review. Hopefully Chapter 5 will come soon.


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